Just one-third of millennials, those born between 1981 and 1996, and Gen Z, born between 1997 and 2012, know that Britain celebrates Remembrance Day to commemorate the end of the First World War, according to a recent Ipsos survey.
Of the 1,000 Britons aged between 16 and 75 surveyed, less than half – 47 percent – were able to answer correctly. Around 30 percent believe Remembrance Day commemorates the end of the Second World War, with others answering the Iraq War, the Napoleonic wars, and the Second English Civil War.
Millennials and Gen Z scored the lowest at 33 percent. Whereas 53 percent of Generation X, born between 1965 and 1980, and 62 percent of baby boomers, born between 1946 and 1964, answered correctly.
Worst still, a staggering 35 percent of Gen Z believe it is not important to remember those who died in the First World War, with 24 percent of Millennials concurring.
“Remembrance Day is clearly important to the vast majority of Britons with three in four saying they will mark it in some way. However, its significance is most keenly felt amongst older generations,” stated Ipsos’ director of Research Keiran Pedley.
Renowned historian Lord Roberts called the results of the survey a “damning indictment of history teaching in our schools,” adding, “How immensely disappointing for all that sacrificed their lives that our young people can’t be bothered to learn the first thing about Remembrance Day.”
